Hopeless
by twilighttries
Summary: [oneshot] Looking at him, she realized that possibly she could keep on living. [sorakairi]


I wanted to try something new, so this one isn't as fluffy as the rest of mine. But it's still fluffy, so don't you worry. I'm impressed with how quickly I finished it. It only took a few days. -proud-

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts or its characters.

* * *

He hated to watch people told about death. Especially girls. They were so emotional. Normally, he would laugh, because some reactions were so ridiculous. However, he couldn't here. One, he had to act professional, being a doctor and all; he couldn't go laughing at patients. Two, there was nothing funny about someone being told that their parent, sibling, friend, whatever, just died. So he tried not to be around when the bad news was spoken. But this time, he couldn't help but observe the scene playing in front of him. 

There was a girl with the prettiest hair he'd ever seen standing outside the hospital with Leon, their calmest doctor. He shook his head. She couldn't even get inside before he got to her. Maybe it was better that she heard outside, where there was much less chaos. Leon's lips moved quickly and his face remained calm and sympathetic. The wind blew, catching her brown skirt and beating it against her bare legs. Her hair graced her face, but she acknowledged it not. She'd only heard the background of the news, he could tell by her face. Her eyes did not yet hold the sadness and pain they soon would. He frowned and ran a hand through his distraught chocolate spikes, as Leon began to move his hands as he talked. Nearly there. It was a shame, though. She was so pretty, seemed so wonderful. He wondered who died, for her. Judging by her age, it could have been anyone. She was young enough to have had a friend killed by drunk driving, but old enough to have a parent die.

"Watching her?" asked Riku, his friend and fellow doctor, as he walked by. He nodded swiftly.

"It's horrible," he replied slowly. "I hate watching family members told. It's damn depressing, that's what it is." Riku made a small humming noise in the back of his throat.

"Good to see that you're composed, Sora. Lucky you had me to show you the ropes."

"Yeah, yeah," Sora smiled. Riku had been a doctor before he, though they were only a few years apart. When he started out, he was a hyper-active jittery sort of kid, always ready to be doing something. Once, he'd been pulled aside by the other boy and told to calm himself. He tried, but failed. For weeks after that day, he'd helped the younger boy become calmer. So now he was completely composed. Well, nearly anyhow.

"Doctor Riku!" cried the cute brunette nurse, waving him down a hallway.

"Later, Sora."

"Bye." He gave a half-wave and turned his attention back to the girl.

She'd found out, he could feel it. Her energy had changed. Leon was shaking his head, and her hand, tips of her fingers curled in to meet her palm, was placed at her lips, which remanded slightly open. Leon's mouth formed the ever-perfect words, I'm sorry, as the brunette nurse rushed by Sora and ushered for him to come inside.

"Will you be okay?" Leon asked.

She gave a curt nod, which clearly confirmed that she would be okay to the naked eye. He rushed inside. The girl stood there for a moment, wind playing with her hair, and he provisionally was jealous of the wind. Furrowing his brow, he examined her. For someone who'd recently experienced death, she was awfully calm. Then, he noted her swaying. It was subtle, but she suddenly began to fall forward, stiff as a board. Without hesitation, he launched himself off of the wall he'd been leaning on, flew out the doors, and caught the strange girl. She turned to putty in his arms, and he struggled to get her to her feet. Succeeding, he wrapped his arms around her shoulders, pulling her into him. It wasn't long before he found that his shirt was wet. Her sobs began to shake her petite body, so much so that she began to hyperventilate.

"Miss," Sora said politely, "you need to calm down."

She wheezed in response. He found himself rocking back and forth, but it didn't help. The wind kept blowing and her lungs kept panting. Rolling his eyes to the sky, he attempted to remember what Riku had once told him about panic. Naturally, he couldn't remember, because the gods frowned upon Sora actually remembering something important. He took her by the shoulders and held her a small distance away from him. Her eyes were shut tight, and her face tense.

"Look at me, Miss. Open your eyes."

Flinching, brilliant purple met his ocean blue.

"Tell me your name."

She opened her mouth, but suddenly shut both that and her eyes and began to shake.

"Open your eyes and tell me your name," he repeated, struggling to keep his voice gentle.

After a minute or so, "Kairi" spilled out of her mouth.

"Kairi," he reiterated. "Listen to me, okay? I need you to calm down. Breathe in slowly, alright?"

She attempted a breath in, but sputtered and continued to shake. He pulled her to his chest and held her tightly.

"Breathe in. And out. Breathe in, breathe out." Repeat.

And slowly but surely, her breathing began to slow and her panic subsided.

"Thank you," she said, closing her eyes against his torso. She had a sweet voice. None of the annoying high pitched squeak that Sora despised.

"No problem," he smiled.

"I'd talk to you more," she said, pulling away from him, "but I need to see my sister."

"I'll take you," he replied softly. "I'm a doctor here."

"Really? Thank you so much."

"Anytime."

He walked into the hospital, hearing her light footsteps behind him, and swiftly made his way to his least favorite room in the building. Opening the door, he let Kairi step in first. He watched her hands clench together and stepped in after her.

"She should be here by now," he told her gently. "What's the name?"

"Naminé Yamamoto."

"Yamamoto…" he repeated, scanning the area for 'Y.' Upon finding it, he looked at each information tag and opened the doors he thought were correct. He slid out the cold sheet and carefully unzipped the body bag. "Is this her?"

"Good heavens."

In front of them lay a pretty blonde, eyes closed and face pale.

"That's her. Oh, God, that's her."

The color disappeared from her face and she flung herself on the deceased.

"My sister, I was supposed to protect you. Mama always said that you were weaker than I. She told me to take care of you… I'm so sorry, Nam. This is my fault, I wasn't there. I'm sorry. I'm… so… sorry."

She sobbed, unfeeling, to the cold dark floor.

"Goodbye," she murmured. "Please…"

Sora tightened his lips, fastened the body bag, and slipped the girl back into her icy grave. After shutting the doors, he walked to Kairi, who was now weeping at his feet. Sighing, he picked her up and carried her to the entrance hall.

"I'm taking the rest of the day off," he told Yuna, their receptionist. "Don't have anyone call me, unless it's an emergency."

Yuna, seeing the limp girl in his arms, nodded swiftly and jotted down something on a piece of paper.

"Where do you live?"

"121 Destiny Drive, Ocean County."

"I'm taking you home."

"Okay," she sighed, hopeless and helpless.

-x-x-x-x-

And this was how he found himself at the funeral of a girl he didn't know.

He hated funerals, but, seeing as he'd quickly become Kairi's moral support, he had to go. For her sake. The priest was droning through his speech of heaven and better places and how wonderful she was, blah blah blah. He stopped listening a while ago. His attention lay in two places.

One, Kairi. Her gorgeous hair blew with the wind, often covering her darkly lined eyes. Her black skirt beat against her knees every so often, and her black peacoat stayed securely fastened around her small torso. Her hands laced together in front of her. She seemed as though she would collapse at any moment.

Two, the blonde haired man a foot away. His hair defied all gravity, and tears continuously streamed down his face. His fists clenched and unclenched repeatedly. Next to him stood a tall red haired man, looking awkward and unhappy. He gently rubbed the blonde's back when he took shaken breaths.

And finally, the casket was closed and lowered into the ground. Kairi stepped closer to him, and he put his arm around her waist. She curled in and began to cry on his shoulder. A soft murmur arose, and Sora noticed the people of the party congregating and speaking softly. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the blonde walking over.

"Kairi," he said. He noticed that his voice wasn't deep, but a nice mid-range. His face was frighteningly pale, his eyes a watery blue. The red haired man had diamond tattoos under his eyes and, though he looked tough, had kindness in his eyes. Kairi turned away from him to the other man.

"Roxas!" she cried, throwing his arms around his neck. He wrapped his arms around her waist as they both began to cry. The red haired man stepped around them to Sora.

"I'm Axel," he said, offering a hand. Sora took it and they shook hands firmly. "I'm Roxas' friend, and I'm assuming that you're hers?"

"Yeah. I'm Sora. I didn't know Naminé. Did you?"

"Nope," Axel replied with a small smirk. "I'm only here for Roxas. Roxas was her boyfriend. Four years."

"Wow. My longest relationship was barely four months."

"Mine was barely four weeks," he laughed. "But Rox was really heart-broken. They were childhood friends as well. Hence Kairi and Roxas acting the way they are. I can imagine she is, too. Heartbroken, that is. They were closer than most siblings. They lived together and stuff. Roxas told me the day that she died that he was going to propose. Little did he know she'd be gone in a few hours... His life was that girl. I don't know how he'll manage going through life without seeing her every day like he used to."

Axel now wore a tense frown. Kairi pulled out of Roxas' embrace. Gently, she wiped his tears away and walked over to him.

"Take him home, okay?" Her voice was tense and sad. Bitter. Axel nodded fleetly and walked to Roxas.

"We're going home."

"No. No," Roxas replied, falling to his knees. "I can't leave her. I can't… no, she needs me… I need her. Naminé."

The desperate young adult crawled to her freshly dug grave. He wrapped his arms around her tombstone and began to wail. Sora ripped his eyes away from the horrifying scene and saw Kairi. Her face held disgust and desperation. Axel seemed unsure of what to do. Sora walked to the girl, placing a hand on her shoulder. She whipped around and, upon seeing who it was, buried herself in his chest. Like a slap in the face, he felt her energy's weakness and sanity snapping. She was in an enormous state of grief as it was, and Roxas wasn't helping.

"Stop it!" she shrieked suddenly. "Stop it, Roxas! You're not doing anything, and you aren't helping. Go home, leave me alone!"

"Kai, I'm bringing you home now, alright?" said Sora, trying not to upset her further.

She sniffed. Turning away from everyone, she began to walk toward the packing lot. Sora paused for a moment, watching Axel tear Roxas away from the tombstone and carrying him away, then jogged to catch up to the girl. He sighed, and looked at her tear stained face. After walking awkwardly for a moment, he slipped his hand into hers. She looked up at him confusedly, but gripped his hand tightly nonetheless.

The ride to Kairi's was silent. Upon getting in the car, he'd got the feeling that she didn't really want to talk. As he changed gears, she put her hand on his, and he cupped his around it. But by the time they'd arrived at their destination, she was fast asleep. Smiling slightly, he carried her inside and laid her on the couch. He grabbed the blanket he knew was stashed to the left of it and tucked her into it. Making his way into the kitchen, he put on a pot to boil. He knew she loved tea. Matter of fact, he knew a lot about her. She told him things in passing, and they'd stick in his brain.

Maybe it was supposed to be that way...

Or something.

-x-x-x-x-

"_It's her birthday_."

A week later he'd gotten this message on his phone. So naturally, he had to leave work to make sure she didn't kill herself or something stupid.

Rushing to her house, he opened the door to find Kairi sitting on her couch, head in her hands and hair hiding her. Two presents lay on the coffee table in front of her.

"What am I supposed to do with these?" she asked, her voice croaky and cracking. "This is for her." Gesture at the first bag, wrapped in light blue paper with a pink bow and covered in girlish handwriting. "The other is for me. I found it in her room." The second was pink with a heart in the corner and a white card. "I can't throw them away. But I can't keep them either."

Sora sat down gently next to her. He picked up Naminé's gift from Kairi.

_Namiiiii!_ it said. _Happy birthday! Turning 23 together, just like last year. Except we turned 22 last year. Haha. I love you, Nam. I don't know what I'd do without you. _

_Love, forever and always,_

_Kairi._

"You're twins."

"Yeah," she replied slowly. "I never told you?"

"No."

"Sorry."

"Well, why don't you open yours? See what it is. I can't hurt any."

"It can."

"Well," he said. "If you open it, maybe you can use what's inside and remember her while using it, instead of staring at an unopened box."

"That's true," she said slowly. "Alright. I will."

Taking the box into her shaking hands, she pulled out the card, looked inside and smiled. She handed it to him, who saw that she'd drawn a picture of Kairi, looking away from her and pensive. It truly was beautiful.

"She's an artist," she explained, opening the wrapping paper. Inside was a box. Sniffing, she pulled open the top and moved the tissue paper aside. She gasped suddenly. "She didn't."

Inside was a green and black plaid button down, a black vest, dark jeans, and white ballerina flats.

"I… I saw this in a store when I was shopping with her," she said softly. "I wanted it so badly, it was so adorable. I never would've dreamed she'd actually get it for me." She sighed. "Oh, Naminé."

"Aren't you glad you opened it? Maybe you can wear it out somewhere, or something."

"Oh, no. I couldn't do that."

"What's the point of her buying it then?" he asked her, staring into her watery eyes. "She went out and brought it especially for you. If you never wear it, it'll be a waste."

"You're right. You're _right_. Thank you. But what should I do with hers?"

"What is it?"

"Art supplies. Almost everything you'd need."

"Well, you could keep it here, give it to the poor, or give it away."

Kairi thought for a moment.

"I'll give it to the poor. They need it more than I do."

Sora smiled, and Kairi leaned into him. He placed his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer.

"It's so weird being alone," she said after a pause. "I was so used to coming home and having her here. She was so quiet; it was almost like nobody was home. But she always took such good care of me. If I got drunk or something, she'd make sure I didn't kill myself or something. And I was her model. I posed all the time for her. I… I just miss her so much. I hate being alone. It's so quiet in the house at night. I just hate being alone. More than anything."

Sora looked at her. She was being absolutely and completely sincere. Looking at her that way, he felt awful about leaving her alone here to wallow in her misery.

"Well," he mumbled. "I could stay here, if you wanted. Then you wouldn't be so alone."

"Really?" she said and then sneezed.

"Bless you," he smiled. "And sure, if you wanted."

"That would mean the world to me."

"I know I can't take her place, but at least I can help you out a little, right?"

"Yeah. Thank you."

"No problem," he said, kissing her forehead softly.

She looked up again. Furrowing his brow, he saw how vulnerable she was. So, he leaned down and softly kissed her.

"Don't ever leave," she said, snuggling up close to him.

"I won't. I won't."

* * *

Reviews make my heart sing! 


End file.
